Milling a 120deg V-groove

J

jmarkwolf

Active User
H-M Supporter Gold Member
I'm cleaning up an old Cardinal Speedvise, the jaws for which are pretty much toast (see below). They are hardened or I could probably clean them up on my mill.

Barring that, I want to re-create them in cold-rolled. However I don't know how best to cut the 120deg V-groove. I don't really need it but the original has a nice radius at the bottom of the groove.

Is there an endmill that can be purchased to cut this profile (about all I'm finding on Google are expensive router bits)? Or do I need to do it with multiple endmills/setups, etc? A sharp bottom or a narrow square bottom would be fine also.

Cardinal vise jaws3.jpg Cardinal vise jaws2.jpg
 
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Couldn't you just angle the part 60* in a vise and cut one side using a regular endmill , tip it the other way 60* and repeat?
 
You can try milling with a 120 degree countersink if you take your time. They're only 16 bucks on Amazon and you are cutting cold roll

Amazon.com: Morse Cutting Tools 56158 - Engranallados sin chispas, carburo sólido, acabado brillante, punto de división de 120 grados, 6 flautas, tamaño de 1/4 pulgadas : Industrial y Científico

Amazon.com: Morse Cutting Tools 56158 - Engranallados sin chispas, carburo sólido, acabado brillante, punto de división de 120 grados, 6 flautas, tamaño de 1/4 pulgadas : Industrial y Científico
www.amazon.com
 
I'd do as machPete99 said above, either tilt your mill head to 60 degrees or use a sine vice to do the same and cut both faces. Use a normal radiused endmill if you want the rounded bottom.

Doing depth-cuts with a countersink is... an adventure.
 
Don't know if they would fit but cdco tools has vice jaws like that if I remember at reasonable cost. Just FYI

Sorry, don't see them anymore on their site. I should have checked first.
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John TV said:
Don't know if they would fit but cdco tools has vice jaws like that if I remember at reasonable cost. Just FYI

Sorry, don't see them anymore on their site. I should have checked first.
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Click to expand...

You got me thinking John. I know that Penn Tool has parts available for the Cardinal vises but they're usually expensive. They have the replacement 6 inch hardened jaw plates are $115. I checked other places and MSC has them for $204, I found others places that have jaw plates for $98, all of which are more than I want to spend on this old vise. I'll just proceed with fabricating a set I think.
 
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